“Yet you risked everything here. Why? We look at you and somehow we know the answer.
It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love…
You all knew that some things are worth dying for.”
President Ronald Reagan—June 6, 1984 in Normandy, France
The weekend cold front had ushered in some winds which were now whipping our American flag around its staff where I had just posted it on our home. Once freed, the flag billowed majestically, with the stars and stripes waving and watching over the rest of my journey back into the house.
And as we pause today on Veterans Day to honor those who have stood in the gap for us—and still do—and for this great land across the ages, as we pause to remember the sacrifice they made so that we and others might continue to live in the warm breezes of liberty, justice and freedom.
This great experiment of God, America, was discovered and founded upon a firm reliance on God, and maintained upon the sacrificial lives of countless numbers of heroes through the ages, and has and must continue to stand as a beacon of His hope for all the world. A Country founded upon the belief that in the commonality of our lives under God, whether in suffering or good fortune, we are called to be a lighthouse for each other and the world, to make sure that no one is in need or alone, and that no one lives in fear or for want of freedom.
Our veterans understood that when they stepped forward.
I wonder sometimes if we understand.
I wonder if we remember what they did for us.
I wonder if it was just a dream years ago when we watched members of Congress—Republicans, Democrats and all shades in between—gathered hand in hand on the steps of our Nation’s Capital in one voice singing “God Bless America.”
I wonder if we get it as I see fewer flags flying in our neighborhoods on occasions such as this. On days like today, I wonder if we realize that those who have stood in the gap for us often came back to us broken, scarred, spit upon, on stretchers and wheelchairs and many in boxes, as they paid the ultimate price, so that we might think, speak and act as we do today.
I wonder if some of us would change our behaviors if we stopped to reflect on those who had gone before giving their last full measure of devotion—and some who continue to give today—for you and for me? I wonder if it would make a difference in how we lived our lives, treated our neighbor, served our country and world, if we remembered how they lived—and died—for us?
Maybe I’m too idealistic, but I dream of a country, a world, where all people are free from government or other oppressive intrusion in any form. Where children “of all ages” everywhere have the opportunity to use their own God-given potential to the find hope for the future intended for their lives in the break of each new dawn. Where the sorrows and joys of our neighbors are embraced in the hearts and helping hands of us all.
I wonder if that would honor their service and sacrifice.
Just something for us to think about, and not take for granted, on this Veterans Day, and during every day throughout the year, for as long as our liberty and freedom prevails.
I believe we will. I hope we will.
In His Name–Scott
